The Martini Henry Rifles were a British noise punk band based on Cardiff, Wales. Most of their quoted influences are noise and punk (most noticeable Brainiac, whose influence is clear in the Martinis' work), hence the most common noise-punk genre classification. The band themselves never quite put any kind of convenient genre label on their work, while on the other hand some people just choose to describe their sound as chaotic, mostly derived from their very energetic live performances. Their...
The Martini Henry Rifles were a British noise punk band based on Cardiff, Wales.
Most of their quoted influences are noise and punk (most noticeable Brainiac, whose influence is clear in the Martinis' work), hence the most common noise-punk genre classification. The band themselves never quite put any kind of convenient genre label on their work, while on the other hand some people just choose to describe their sound as chaotic, mostly derived from their very energetic live performances.
Their story dates back to late 2000. Cez Mathias and Jason Lorch put up an advert to find musicians on a record shop. Chris Warlow responds and some months later Fudge Wilson joins to complete the line-up.They start using the name Luxinterior until April 2001, when The Martini Henry Rifles are finally born. In November 2001 they release the limited edition of their single Kill/Summer/Shit. It attracts the attention of Sean McClusky, who releases the Martinis' Luger 6000 single and becomes their manager. The band featured on manager Sean McClusky's Sonic Mook Experiment compilation Future Rock & Roll.
Their story runs short until 2003, when they sign for FF Vynil. In December 2003 they finally release their single And Then We Hit A Truck, and in November 2004, after almost a year of recording and remixing, their debut album Superbastard. During the recording of the album drummer Jason Lorch decides to leave the band, and they start using a drum machine as a temporary replacement for him. During most of 2005 they have been busy touring the UK and Europe, and in the first few months of 2006 recording and preparing the release of their 2nd full-length album.
In late April 2006 the members informed fans on their MySpace website that they have decided to put an end to the band. No particular reasons have been given. Nevertheless it is still possible that their 2nd album gets to see the light of day, due to its recording-completion by that time.
Band members as of April 2006 were: Chris Warlow (vocals/guitar/synthesizer), Richard 'Cez' Mathias (vocals/guitar/drum machine) and Ewen 'Fudge' Wilson (bass). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
